PAUWES – Research Assistant
PAUWES – Research Assistant
- Algeria
(PAUWES) PAUWES is an institute that is part of the Pan African University – a project initiated by the African Union to revitalize higher education and research in Africa. It is a project that exemplifies excellence, enhances the attractiveness and global competitiveness of African higher education and research, and establishes the Pan African University at the core of Africa’s development as part of a broad, integrated system of higher education across the African continent.
The PAUWES is hosted at the University of Tlemcen in Algeria and gathers excellent know-how to tackle the challenges faced in different African countries with regard to water, energy, and climate change. In this regard, several research projects aiming to support the development of PAUWES by enhancing its research activities in water and energy sciences were implemented as the first steps of the implementation of the research agenda of the institute. Besides, the institute is striving to integrate the scientific and international networks for its establishment as a Pan African (and beyond) hub/platform on the topic of Energy, Water, and Climate Change. In addition, PAUWES pays special attention to young scientists who play a crucial and central role in the implementation of its research agenda with a substantial contribution to the goals of the institute through the development and implementation of research and scientific activities. LEAP-RE is a joint research and innovation programme implemented in the frame of the African Union – European Union High-Level Policy Dialogue process (AU-EU HLPD) to support the transformative path toward a more sustainable, affordable, and accessible renewable energy in both Africa and Europe. The programme promotes a pathway for empowering local research and innovation through Africa-Europe cooperation, while fostering the conditions for transforming research into effective innovation, tailored to specific societal needs, the capacities and aspirations in Africa, acknowledging regional discrepancies and is seeking to create a long-term partnership of African and European stakeholders in a quadruple helix approach: government (programme owners and funding agencies), research and academia, private sector, and civil society. The programme consists of three pillars I, II and III focusing on external research funding and capacity-building; bringing together European and African operators in 8 research and/or innovation projects; and consisting in the management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the LEAP-RE programme, and in the development of the future long-term collaboration model of the AU-EU partnership in renewable energy respectively.
In the frame of the pillar 3 several work packages (WP) are dedicated to the programme coordination and a set of engagement and strategic activities. This includes: WP1 – Programme coordination that gathers the coordination activities, including the programme office and a dedicated task for scientific and ethical advisory; WP2 & 3 dedicated to coordinate the Pillars I and II, as outlined above; WP4 – Maximizing outcomes includes all actions related to building the community, outreach and exploitation; WP5 that establishes scenarios and strategic pathways for a long-term perspective; and WP6 which manages the operational steps to build the framework for the future partnership. PAUWES is involved in WP2-WP4 and co-leads WP5 and WP6.
In addition, in the frame of this pillar, PAUWES in collaboration with a consortium of fourteen institution partners from higher education and the private sectors in Africa and Europe, is implementing a research and innovation project: The Sustainable Energy Transition and Digitalization of Smart Mini-Grids for Africa (SETADISMA). It combines research and capacity building activities to ensure exchange and knowledge transfer among partners; and aims at developing a comprehensive analysis of mini-grids in African rural areas to provide a renewable energy smart-grid concept supporting the local context development, through the development and validation of new modelling approaches for energy assessment, technology development, digitalization and socio-economic aspects with the support of several cases studies in the African partner countries. PAUWES is co-leading the project and activities related to the assessment and analysis of digital technologies for mini-grids at technical and operational system levels, the development of ideas and solutions building on the innovative potential of youth across the continent and the setup of ecosystem with the appropriate regulatory framework to support and promote innovation.
Responsibilities: Under the authority of the Director of PAUWES and direct supervision and guidance of the LEAP RE project Coordinator, the selected candidate shall carry out the following tasks:
- Support the LEAP-RE project coordinator in the management of PAUWES contribution to overall
- LEAP RE coordination (WP2-WP6) and the project SETADISMA
- Contribute to research and capacity building activities in the frame of the LEAP-RE coordination (W2-W6) and the SETADISMA project
- Support the research, assessment and analysis of the current state, opportunities and challenges of digital technologies for mini-grid at the technical system and operational level in the African context to develop an accurate map of digital technologies components and systems for minigrids at the technical system and operational levels dedicated to African needs;
- Support the development of an enabling environment consisting of all stakeholders of the
- entrepreneurial ecosystem (Tech Hub, incubator, accelerator, venture capital, equity funds, etc.) that supports the development and deployment of innovative business cases in the mini-grid and digital technologies nexus;
- Contribute to the development of appropriate business, delivery, and socio-economic models for local development by evaluating and comparing available data for mini-grid systems in off-grid areas in the different case studies on the continent;
- Support the implementation of some activities in the master thesis process at PAUWES
- Contribute to research activities, academic publications and articles in the thematic areas of the institute
- Support activities of the Digitalization Labs to foster research leading to entrepreneurship or the creation of start-ups on the continent in the fields of water, energy, climate change, and digital technologies nexus on the continent
- Support the integration of PAUWES in African and international research networks
- Support the development of concepts for the acquisition of third-party funding
- Support the implementation of research and capacities building projects, and activities in the area of research management
- Support the organisation of scientific meetings, seminars, and conferences
- Support outreach and integration activities to establish partnerships with relevant stakeholders in research and research policy on the continent
- Prepare status and management reports and other information as required by the Directorate of the Institute and the donors
- Take up other related duties as required.
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